Pages

Friday, 20 April 2012

At last, here's the fifth and final card from the Beautiful Bows class. A nice simple card, with a really easy bow. There was no tying involved for this bow, simply a bit of folding of the ribbon, and a carefully placed Antique Brad to hold it in place. Clever eh? The Large Scallop Circle was used to punch out one of the stamps from the Everything Eleanor set, don't forget this punch is only available until the end of this month, with the end of the Spring Mini Catalogue. The swirly stamp was stamped in Lucky Limeade onto Crumb Cake card stock and then embossed with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder in the Big Shot. It's always a good idea to do your stamping first, else it can be difficult to stamp after the card has been embossed.

I hope you've enjoyed these Beautiful Bows cards, and if you'd like to learn any of the techniques, I'd be happy to demonstrate them. Contact me to book a workshop, or enquire about attending a class.

Thursday, 19 April 2012

Have you missed me? I hope you've even noticed I've not blogged for over a week now, I hope you were all checking every day for a new post from me! I'm back anyway, I've had a hectic week or two, and have not kept up with these posts. This has been the busiest crafty week or two I've had for a long time, lots of preparation to do. I had a card class on Wednesday in Bradford, and on Saturday I am attending an all day training session, with 30 swaps to make. I've another class on Tuesday in Leeds, and then tomorrow evening I'm going to a Stamp-a-stack class! Busy busy busy. I'm looking forward to it all though, and can't wait to share everything with you.

Here's the fourth card I made a few weeks ago at the Beautiful Bows class. This was the first bow we were shown how to make, and it was a very simple one to do, once we got the hang of where our fingers and thumbs were meant to be. I've tied bows like this before, but getting shown how to do it that little bit better made all the difference. The Everything Eleanor stamp set was used again, with the now retired Sale-a-bration papers Everyday Enchantment. Missing those already. However, it's not long until the release of the new Summer Mini Catalogue, so there'll be plenty of new products for us to swoon over!

Wednesday, 11 April 2012

Here's the third card from the Beautiful Bows class. This one features "the Julie bow"! Julie my upline, used to make wedding stationary, and she used this bow on her items. It was probably the most simple of all the bows to make, but still looks really effective, and elegant. It's also a great bow for cards that require posting, as there's not too much bulk to it, and wouldn't get squashed in the post. As with the others in this set, the Everything Eleanor stamp set was used, with Pool Party and Crumb Cake, and we used the Lace Ribbon Border punch for the strip under the ribbon.

Tuesday, 10 April 2012

Well it's all back to normal now after the long weekend, shame the weather wasn't like it was last weekend, but at least I wasn't tempted to sit outside, and instead I got some planning and organising done for my next two card classes. I also realised at the weekend that as well as having two card classes in a week, I have an all day team training event with swaps to make, and another stamp-a-stack class to attend. I'll be crafted out by the end of all of that! I'll have plenty of blog material to share with you at least, if I ever catch up with it all.

Here's the second card from the Beautiful Bows class. This one features a double looped bow, and was the most scary looking one out of all the bows we made, I was sure I wasn't going to be able to make this one. Luckily, it wasn't as hard as it looked, and ended up looking pretty good.﻿

Monday, 9 April 2012

Last weekend I attended a Beautiful Bows class run by my upline, Julie Kettlewell. This was a great class, as we learn five different bow techniques, something that I've always been a bit nervous of! Mine never look quite like they are meant to, so it was good to be shown the tricks of the trade. I just hope I can remember them when I come to try them again.

All the cards that I will be sharing with you over the next five days use the Everything Eleanor stamp set, which is really versatile. The colour combination of Pool Party, Lucky Limeade, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla was used. All of the stamped images fitted onto one A4 sheet of Very Vanilla card stock, so it was an economical use of card. The sentiment on this card is from Sincere Salutations, and the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder has been used on the Very Vanilla background.

The bow on this card was made with a fork! Yes, a fork. All the ladies at the class were a bit confused when we sat down at Julie's dining table, we thought maybe she was serving us lunch! It makes such a cute bow, and I can't wait to try this with different sized forks to see what effect it has.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

Here's the final card from the Stamp-a-stack session. It uses two of my favourite items at the moment, the Cupcake punch and the Create a Cupcake Stamp Set. These are only available until the end of April, I'll miss them a lot. For this card, Pool Party, Chocolate Chip and Regal Rose card stock were used. I learnt a new technique with this card, called Inlaid Embossing. Various sizes of circles were punched and then glued to the Whisper White card stock, then the whole thing was run through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder. The Large Scallop Circle Punch, another product that will not be available after the end of the month, was used to mount the cupcake. To finish it off, the Satin Ribbon was attached, and the Happy Birthday sentiment was stamped and punched with the Large Oval Punch and the Scallop Oval Punch. I'll be making this card again soon!

Friday, 6 April 2012

The Easter weekend is here at last, a few days away from work to relax, just what we all need I'm sure! I hope you've all got lovely things planned for the weekend.

Today I'd like to share another card that was made at last weeks Stamp-a-stack session. The paper Everyday Enchantment is from the recent Sale-a-bration promotion﻿, and unfortunately is no longer available. The Stamp Set is called Everybunny, and is such a cute set. It is an Easter stamp set, but it does contain some stamps that could be used the rest of the year too. The decorative label punch was used to punch around the bunny, and to make the border with the Calypso Coral card stock. The Boho Blossoms punch was used to make the flowers with the Pool Party card stock. The bunny was coloured in using the blender pen and the marker pens, I do like a bit of colouring in on a card!

Everybunny Stamp Set images

I hope you all get a visit from the Easter bunny, enjoy the chocolate!

Thursday, 5 April 2012

Here's the fourth card from the Stamp-a-stack class, which uses one of the Sale-a-bration stamp sets, Fresh Vintage. Sadly, this promotion has ended now, and the lovely products are no longer available, I hope you all got the freebies you wanted and are enjoying them. This was a nice simple card, quick and easy. Early Espresso ink and Card Stock was used, with Very Vanilla. The sentiments are from the Petite Pairs stamp set. I love the velvet ribbon, which is in the Spring Mini Catalogue, I'd never used it before and it makes such a different having a feel and look at the products, rather than looking at the pictures in the catalogue. The Lace Ribbon Border Punch was used to create the strip behind the ribbon.﻿

Wednesday, 4 April 2012

What strange weather we're having at the moment, I was applying suncream on Sunday when I went on a 32 mile bike ride, and then last night as I left a team training event in Pudsey, it was snowing. Crazy! I remember my Mum telling me she's got photos of me as a child in the snow with my Easter eggs, maybe that will happen again this year!

Here's the third card from last weeks Stamp-a-stack class. It's a great card for men, or ladies who like bikes, I don't want to be sexist!! The stamp is called Motorcycle, and is one of the A la Carte stamps, and is a bargain at only £7.95. I love the sketched effect, and the clarity and quality of Stampin' Up!'s rubber stamps really shows with this image. I learnt a new technique with this card, using a small circle punch in the top corners of the Whisper White card stock, to make a crescent for the mini brads. I've only ever seen that done with a special punch, it's good to learn new ways of using products to their full capabilities.

This is a very quick post, as it's way past my bed time. I held my first real card class last Tuesday, at Dock Street Market, Leeds, and the evening was a great success. There were eight people who came along, some were experienced crafters, and others were complete beginners. They all seemed to enjoy themselves, and I loved it too! Can't wait for the next one now, just got to choose what projects I'll be doing.

Here's a few pictures from the class, and to see the rest, click here (Thanks to Phil for taking these pictures - great shots!) I'll be sharing the cards that we made in due course.

If you'd like to come along to future classes, keep an eye on the classes page on this blog. This class will be held on the fourth Tuesday of the month. Regular updates will be posted giving details of what's coming up.

Tuesday, 3 April 2012

Here's the second card from the stamp-a-stack class, I'm really pleased Julie chose this one for us, as I've had my eye on it on Pinterest now for a while and was planning to make it at some point. The colours used are Calypso Coral, with Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. The paper is from the First Edition Designer Series Paper, and I bought these a while ago, and not quite known what to use them with, at least I have an idea now. On this card, the Sponge Daubers were used to ink the edges of the card to give a vintage look. The stamp set is Elementary Elegance, a set which was recently available during the Sale-a-bration promotion, which ended on the 31st March. I'll miss using all the Sale-a-bration products for blog posts, although I'll be using them to make some cards to sell. The Beautiful Wings Embosslit die was used for the butterflies, and some bling was added using the Rhinestone Jewels. ﻿

Monday, 2 April 2012

Morning all, hope you are doing well. Over the next 6 blog posts, I'll be sharing with you the cards that I made at the recent stamp-a-stack card class run by Julie Kettlewell. Even though I'm a demonstrator myself, I still enjoy attending classes myself, as there's always new tips and techniques to learn, and I love it when I learn something that I can pass on here, or at my classes. The social side of it is great too, lots of new like minded people to meet, and who understand the desire to own everything in the catalogue!

The first card I'm sharing is made with a few of the Big Shot dies, Top Note and Beautiful Butterflies. It was a quick and simple card to make, but looks really fancy. The colours Wisteria Wonder and Island Indigo were used, with Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. The stamp set used on the Top Note area is from the Spring Mini catalogue, called You Are Loved. The sentiment is from Sincere Salutations, a set I seem to be using more and more these days, and has been stamped onto a label stamped with the Four Frames set, punched with the Decorative Label Punch.

Sunday, 1 April 2012

I hope all of you enjoyed this year's Sale-A-Bration, and that you got plenty of freebies with your orders. It's always sad when products are no longer available, or a catalogue ends, but we just have to look forward to the next new products that are just around the corner.

To keep your spirits high, I'd like to tell you about the fantastic promotion Stampin' Up! are offering for the month of April. When you spend £45 on products from the catalogue, you will receive a pack of Speciality Designer Papers for free. You can choose from the following sets -

Berry Blossom

Beyond The Garden

Nursery Nest

Pocketful of Posies

This is the perfect time to host a workshop, so if you've been thinking about hosting one, please contact me to arrange it.

This is another project that I was kept busy with at Kylie's when we had our craftathon weekend! I'd seen this on Pinterest, and thought I'd give it a go. The 2011-2013 In Colours were used, stamped onto Whisper White card stock.

The "Handmade" banner stamp was cut around and placed onto a flag cut in the same colour card stock, and stuck onto a cocktail stick.

The "Made with my own two hands" stamp was stamped and punch with the 1 3/4" Circle Punch and the Scallop Circle Punch.

There was a bit of cutting out to do for the "Made just for you" stamp, and I added a flower punched with the Itty Bitty Bits punch, and added a Rhinestone Jewel in the centre.

The "Handstamped" stamp was just cut around.

The "Deliciously made for you" stamp was punched with the Large Oval Punch and the Scallop Oval Punch, as was the "From the kitchen of"﻿

﻿

The "Created By" stamp was punched with the Decorative Label Punch, and ink applied around the edge with the Sponge Daubers.

Here they all are together as a set. These would look great attached to home made produce or gifts, or just used as sentiments on the back of a card. For any of you crafters out there that sell your crafts, Stampin' Up! operate under the angel policy, which means you can sell products you have made with Stampin' Up! images, as long as it displays one of the (c) Stampin' Up! images on it to protect their copyright. ﻿